Stock-car



eeeeeeeeeeeeeee L. R. STILES.

v STOCK GAR.

(No'Moael.) 2 sheens-sheet 2..

L. R. STILES` STOCK GAR.v

N0.s8z,843. l l Pawnted May 15, 1883.'

NITED STATES PATENT Ortner.,

LUTHER R. STILES, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOISa STOCK-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 382,843, dated May 15,1888..

Application filed October 8, 1885. -Serial No. 179,383. (No model.)

In the Letters Patent of the United States which were issued to me onthe 12th day of February, 1884i, No. 293,285, an upper deck for astock-car is shown and described, having its main portion in four equalsections, the outer edges of which were provided witheyes that werepassed over hinge-rods fastened to the side walls of the car at asuitable height above the lower deck, so that the sections could beturned down against the walls out ofthe way when not in use, and couldalso be moved endwise upon the hinge-rods. Each end of the car wasprovided with an end section of the deck hinged thereto, so that thesection could be turned down against the end wall, so as to allow theside sections to move back from the doorways and clear them. Vhen allthe sections were turned up upon a level, their inner edges weresupported by chains depending from the roof of the car; and in likeLetters Patent issued to me, bearing date the 1st day of April, 1884,No. 296,245, the main portion of the upper deck was shown to be in fourequal sections, which were hung upon the side walls of the car by meansof rectangular hooks, with which the outer edges of the sections wereprovided, to t over them, and so could be turned down against the sidewalls when not in use; but when in use as parts of an upper deck theirinner edges were supported by a series of removable posts from below andaseries of chains depending from the roof from above.

My improvement herein described and claimed, in general terms, consistsin c onstructing the upper deck of such a car of detachable planksextending entirely across the car, their ends being supported by sidebars of the walls of the car, and the Whole deck may be composed of suchplanks, or the main portion only, and the ends of the car provided withhinged end sections, as in the other patents, suitably supported whenraised, and each individual plank is provided With my improved devices,hereinafter fully described,

away the planks when not in use, immediately under the lower deck andbetween the axles and wheels of the car.

My said improvement will be more fully described hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure lis aperspective of a little more than one-half the length of a stock-carembracing myimprovement, the top portion being broken away in order todisplaya view from above of a portion ofthe upper deck in position; Fig.3, a plan of a horizontal section of the same made under the upper deckand above the lower deck inverted, in order to display the lower side ofthe upper deck; and Fig. 2, a detail view in perspective of one of theplanks of the upper deck inverted;

S indicates the outer bottom sills of the body of the car; A, the lowerdeck thereon; B, the vertical studs, C, the upper sills for the purlinsto rest upon; E, the purlins; D, the planks of which the upper deck iscomposed, and a the cleats riveted or otherwise fastened upon the undersides of the planks D F, the diagonal struts, G, the side bars, and Gthe two side bars upon which rest the ends of the planks; N N N2, thethree sides of the box to contain the planks when not in use; O, thebottom of the box; I, the door of the box, swinging upon its hinges b,and c, the hasp and lock forthat door. K indicates two iron bars bentinto the form shown, and fastened at their ends to the lower sills, S,of the car, and they help to sustain the weight of the box for theplanks and its contents, and also strengthen the car itself, and the boxitself is simply a plain strong one, having sufficient capacity to holdthe planks when not in use.

The side bars, G', are designedto support the ends of the planks when inuse for an upper deck, and they should have sufficient `strength andstiffness to sustain the ends under pressure of the load, and they may,if need be, be

ICO

a counterpart of all the rest, except the ones next the doorways, whichmust be longer than the rest, because the doors of the car are outsideof its walls. It has been specified hereinbefore that the ends of theplanks rest upon the side bars, G', which is correct, except that thosebars are cut away to form the doorways, the places of which are illed bythe slotted and pivoted bars shown, which support the ends of the planksand also protect the gates.

. Each plank is provided upon one of its edges with a cleat on one sideof its cross median line, and another cleat upon the other edge upon theopposite side of that line.

By means of the construction and arrangement specified there will be nointerference between cleats, and the planks in the making up of theremovable deck will be interchangeable, and the operation will requireno special care, no skilled labor, and but little time and strength, andthe planks will be easily removed and placed in the box for them, and soleave the car entirely free for use as a single compartment.

In fastening the cleats to the planks Isimply rivet them on withoutcutting away the planks to form beds for the cleats, which would weakenthem, and I use at least two rivets for each cleat in order to preventit from turning laterally.

The box above mentioned for holding the upper deck when not in use maybe a tight or a loose box or frame either of planks, slats, or wirerods. y

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is

1. An upper and removable deck for a stockcar, composed of planks theends of which are` sustained by the side walls of thecar, and each plankprovided with two cleats extending out laterally from each of its edgesso as to support and receive support under pressure from adjacentplanks, substantially as described.

2.' As a component part of an upper and removable deck for a stockcar,the plank D, provided with two cleats, a, one of which is fastened uponeach side edge of the same and extends out laterallytherefrom, the twocleats being placed on opposite sides to each other of the plank andalso of the short axis of the plank, adapted to afford support to andreceive support from adjacent planks and to render the sameinterchangeable, substantially as described.

3. In combination with a stock car having a removable upper deck, thedescribed receptacle for holding the removabledeck when not in use,located immediately under the lower deck of the ear and supported inposition by any suitable means, substantially as described.

- LUTHER R. STILES.

\Vitnesses:

W. A. WEED, FRED N. HARRrs.

